Jo had learned the hard way that life was not mystical, or magical; it was hard and grey and cold most of the time. Much better to see it for what it is than to be perennially disappointed. It's not as though Jo Liddell never had dreams. She was going to be a journalist and travel the world, but life had a way of stealing her dreams right out from under her. Okay, she had her column, but heaven forbid she had an opinion about anything that mattered. And now that she's saddled herself with a hefty mortgage, Jo has resigned herself to living a less-than-perfect life. That is, until she crosses paths with Joe Bannister - a celebrated foreign correspondent, returning home to care for his dying father, take the pressure off his long-suffering sister and maybe pull his recalcitrant brother into line. He did not expect to find himself falling for a headstrong woman who seems to resent him. But after devastating news, Joe is forced to make an impossible choice, and Jo must fight hard for everything she never believed in - success, self-acceptance, and above all, real love.